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Friday

Kirk Gibson's jersey number 30 was recently retired. Wait a second, you might be thinking, Gibson wore 23 for most of his career. And you'd be right. He did wear number 23 for the majority of his MLB career. However, playing baseball in college he wore number 30. And that was the number which Michigan State, his alma mater, recently retired.

Gibson's jersey number joins a rare group which have been retired by the Spartans. Another notable retired MSU number belongs to MLB Hall of Famer Robin Roberts who also played for the Spartans basketball team. (Robin Roberts is also my pick for the best to ever wear the jersey number 36 in professional sports).

Now, why did it take until now for the Spartans to retire Gibson's number in baseball? Well, maybe because he was more of a football star at Michigan State. He was actually an All-American wide receiver for the Spartans, who played just one year of baseball. That one year of baseball was enough to make the scouts swarm East Lansing, and the rest, as they say, is history.